Secrets and Suprises
by evil-jeannie75
Summary: Sam has agreed to meet with Josh in Washington, D.C., but why is Cathy angry with him? What has Josh done to make Donna angry this time? Please Review.
1. We Need A What?

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters associated with The West Wing.

* * *

The White House

Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff

* * *

"Toby, we need a Deputy Communications Director," Josh Lyman said to White House Communications Director, Toby Ziegler.

"No we don't," Toby said. "We've been fine for the last three years without one, why do we need one now?"

"You mean two years, don't you? You meant to say that we've been doing fine without a Deputy Communications Director for the last two years," Josh said. "I know that you meant two years because one of those years, the year that we needed a Deputy Communications Director the most, we had Will Bailey. In fact, Will wrote the President's Inaugural Address and received much praise. I know that you meant two years, right?"

"Look, whatever. Two years. Three years. It doesn't make a difference. We were doing fine before he showed up and we're doing fine after."

"By _he_, you mean Will, right?" Josh said annoyed. He couldn't believe that Toby was still angry with Will for leaving. "Look, Toby, he left two years ago. He left to further his career. He did something that if you were his age and in the same position you would have done also. Give it a rest." Josh paused for a minute to recollect his thoughts. Toby just made him so angry sometimes. "This is not about Will. This is about finding a new Deputy Communications Director."

"We don't need a new Deputy Communications Director," Toby mumbled.

"Yes we do. We've been through a lot in the last few months. We need some help getting it all back on track."

"Who do you have in mind?"

"Well, I've held a few interviews and well...they've all sucked. I'm thinking of bringing in some help."

"You've held interviews for Deputy Communications Director without consulting me first," Toby said in disbelief.

"Yes, Leo gave the okay and like I said they all sucked."

"Who do you have in mind?" Toby asked angrily.

"You're going to love him."

"Who do you have in mind?" Toby's voice was getting louder by the minute.

"He's talented, witty, and bright."

"Who do you have in mind?"

"Ready for this… Sam."

"Sam?" Toby asked. "Sam Seaborn?"

"Yup."

"How did you get him to say yes?"

"Well, I haven't yet," Josh said. "I was going to call him after we talked. So what do you think?"

"It's good," Toby said trying to hide his pleasure. Sam is coming back. "One thing though, can I stay while you make the call?"

"Sure. We'll put him on speakerphone." Now all he had to do was find the number. He looked all around his mess of a desk and couldn't find it anywhere. He honestly didn't know how he got anything done. And then it came to him. "Donna," he yelled.

Donna opened the door to Josh's office, "You bellowed, O' Grumpy One."

"I need you to get Sam on the phone," Josh said.

"You can use the phone," Donna said.

"Yes, I can, but that's what I pay you for."

"Actually, you don't pay my salary, the United States Government does," Donna retorts. "And I say that you know how to use the phone."

"I can't find the number."

Donna rummages around on Josh's desk and finds the number to Sam's office. "Thank you, Donna."

Josh picks up the phone and looks at his watch. "Donna, what time is it in California?"

"Three hours ahead of the time here."

Josh looked at his watch, "So it's eleven o'clock there?"

"No it's noon there," Donna said.

"But my watch says it's two o'clock here."

"Your watch sucks."

"No, it doesn't. Toby what time is it?"

Toby looked at his watch, "3:05"

Donna gave Josh a self-satisfied look. "See."

"Out!" Josh yelled. Donna stuck her tongue out at him and walked out the office door slamming it shut.

"There now that that's taking care of," Josh said. "Let's call Sam." He looked at the phone trying to figure out how to get an outside line. "Donna," he yelled.

Donna walked into Josh's office. "Yes, O' Giant Pain In My Ass."

"Cute. Real cute. Keep that up and I won't let you go home early."

"Since when do you let me go home early?"

"Well, I was thinking of starting to, but now I've changed my mind."

Donna gave him a look. "What do you need?"

"I need to know how to get an outside line."

Donna walked over to the phone and dialed the number to Sam's office. When someone picked up she said, "Hi, this is Donna Moss in Josh Lyman's office. Mr. Lyman would like to speak to Sam Seaborn."

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	2. How've Ya Been?

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters associated with The West Wing.

* * *

Los Angeles, California

Office of Sam Seaborn

* * *

"Sam Seaborn's office," Sam's secretary says. "Donna?"

"Cathy?" Donna says in surprise. "Oh my God. Cathy, how are you? I had no idea that you were working for Sam."

"Yeah, I have been for a while now. I normally don't answer phones. Jane does that. She's out sick today. So how've you been?"

"Good. Josh's been working me like a dog. But other than that pretty good," Donna looks at Josh's expression and smiles to herself. "So how've you been? Sam isn't giving you too much trouble is he?"

"He hides his doughnuts." Donna burst out laughing when she heard this. "He does. He's afraid that I might steal them or something. He either hides them or eats them really fast and gets jelly all over his shirt. Then, I have to get him a new one."

"That's probably because you used to steal his doughnuts," Josh said.

"Hello, Josh. How've ya been? Still pissing Donna off."

"Yup. Daily," Josh said. "Toby's here too."

"Hi, Toby. Congratulations on the twins."

"Thank you."

Sam comes up to Cathy's desk wondering where the notes for the speech that he was working on went to. He's about to ask her where they were when he heard her talking on the phone, "Who are you talking to?"

"Donna and Josh and Toby," Cathy said. "We were making fun of you."

"Donna, Josh and Toby are on the phone right now?" Sam asked happily. He hadn't spoken to them in so long. "Put them on speakerphone."

Cathy did as she was instructed. Normally, she would have resisted, but she could see how happy Sam was to hear from his friends so she did what she was told. Besides she wanted to talk to them too. "Hey guys, Sam's here."

"Hey Sam"

"Hey guys. What's up?" Sam asked. "How is everything?"

"Everything's good," Josh said.

"How bout you Donna? Are you still putting up with Josh? You know if you ever get sick of working for him you can always come work for me. I mean the money sucks and the hours are long, but you get to deal with my winning personality. And Cathy is always saying how she misses D.C. and would love to go back." Cathy gave him a smack on the arm. Christ that woman can hit hard.

"Well, that's actually what we wanted to talk to you about, Sam," Toby said. "We were wondering if you'd like to come back and work for the White House again as Deputy Communications Director?"

"I know that you'd have to give up living in sunny California and the bad pay and that evil assistant of yours, no offense Cathy, but we would really like to have you back," Josh said.

"Well, that's the thing actually, Cathy would have to come too. She knows where everything is and we're kind of in this together."

"Of course Cathy can come too," Donna said. "Right Josh, you wouldn't take another job without taking me with you?"

"Of course not Donna," Josh said. "Cathy can come too."

"Thank you for your permission Joshua," Cathy said sarcastically.

"You're welcome," Josh said. "Now how soon can the two of you get out her? There are a few things that we have to take care of before you actually come back to work for us."

"There's a thing Josh.," Sam said unsure of how he was going to tell Josh the next part. "There's something that I have to tell you?"

"Well it can wait until you get here. How about Wednesday? Cathy clear his schedule for the rest of this week. I've got to go to a meeting. See you soon." The line went dead.

Sam gave Cathy a worried look. "Well, Cathy, I guess we're going to D.C."

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	3. Apologies

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters associated with The West Wing.

* * *

Los Angeles, California

Sam Seaborn's Office

* * *

"What do you mean you guess we're going to D.C.?" Cathy said loudly. "We can't go to D.C. and you know it."

"It couldn't hurt to go check it out," Sam said. "Come on Cathy, you said it yourself that you miss D.C. and would rather be there than here."

"Sam, we can't go to D.C." Cathy paused with realization. "You're planning on taking the job aren't you?"

Judging by Sam's silence Cathy knew the answer. "Sam, are you out of your mind?"

"Cathy, I'm just thinking about it. End of discussion." He walked away from Cathy's desk and out of her office. He went into his office and shut the door.

Cathy was angry. She couldn't believe that man sometimes. She got up from behind her desk and barged into his office and slammed the door behind her. "Don't ever walk away from me like that. I can't believe that you are thinking of throwing away everything that we have built to go back to D.C."

"It will only be for a year, year and a half at most."

"This," Cathy held up her hands gesturing to her surroundings, "won't be here in a year and a half, Sam. What about me, Sam? What about everything we built. It took us a two years to get to where we are now and you want to throw it all away. You've built a life here, Sam. You have friends. You have a family. You have a great job which you love. You've always said that you want to run for office again someday. Well, this is the place to do it. People know you here. You have connections. Why go to D.C. and spoil it all. Don't they know what you have here?"

Sam didn't even get a chance to open his mouth to attempt to say anything in his own defense. "The reason they don't know is because you haven't told them have you? You haven't told them about the business or the speeches or the anything else. That's why Donna was so surprised when I answered the phone. They didn't know that we work together. They think that I'm just your assistant. Someone who you used to work with who needed a job that you hired because you're a nice guy. They don't know that I'm your business partner do they? They don't know that we write the speeches together? They don't know anything because you haven't told them."

Cathy was right. He hadn't told them anything. He had never really gotten the chance. Anytime he spoke to Josh, which wasn't much, they spoke about politics and the White House and the President. They never spoke about their personal lives or their jobs. In fact, he really hadn't spoken to anyone inside the White House since he left three years ago. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell them. I never really got the chance. Look, I promise that I will tell Josh everything when we get there. OK."

"Are you going to take the job?"

Sam looked around his office and decided that he liked what he saw. He liked having his own business, even if he was just consulting. "No, I'm not," Sam said. "I'll go there and listen to what they have to say. Then, I'll tell them all of the reasons why I can't take the job."

Cathy looked at him, "Good."

Just as she was about to walk out of the office, Sam said, "They want you too, you know that right?"

"They want me as you're assistant, someone who types out your notes and edits your speeches and answers your phone, not as a speechwriter." Cathy paused for a minute, "You better book the tickets to D.C."

"What's the..."

"It's in the top right hand draw in the phone book under airlines."

Sam opened the top right hand draw of his desk and in it he found the book that Cathy had been talking about. He found the number and dialed it, happy that he had been able to get an outside line without Cathy's help. "Hi, I need two tickets for Washington, D.C. for Wednesday morning. You need what?" Sam stood up and reached in his back pocket for his wallet. They asked for his credit card and something else that he wasn't quite sure what it was. He hadn't booked a flight in a long time. Cathy always did that or whatever assistant he had at that time. "So what is it again that you needed?"

Cathy laughed to herself at the sight of Sam trying to juggle the phone, his wallet, and a pen and paper all at the same time. She walked over and took the phone from Sam. "I'm sorry what is it that you need?" She gave the woman on the phone Sam's credit card number and all of the other information that was needed. After she booked the flight she said, "Sam, the flight is at eight in the morning on Wednesday. You need to be out of the apartment by five-thirty so we could be at the airport at six. Also you need to be packed and ready Tuesday night. Although you really should do it tonight that way you can go over everything on Tuesday just to make sure you didn't forget anything."

"Why do we have to leave so early?"

"Because they say that you always should be at the airport at least two hours before your flight, just in case anything goes wrong or something takes too long."

"But.."

"Sam, don't argue with me. How many times have we gone through this in the last year alone?"

"OK. Fine. I'll pack tonight, check everything tomorrow, and then wake up really early on Wednesday and be really grumpy from lack of sleep and torture you on the plane."

"So what's new?" Cathy said sarcastically as she walked out of Sam's office.

* * *

The White House

Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff

* * *

Josh Lymon sat at his desk at nine o'clock on a Monday night. He looked at his watch. It read 7:36. His watch really did suck. He thought back to the events of the day. About his meeting with the President in the morning, about the events on the Hill today, and about his conversation with Sam. He was really happy that Sam was coming back to work at the White House. He didn't sound too happy though. He also made sure that Cathy was coming. That was something that was very strange because when Cathy worked at the White House, she scared the crap out of him. "Hmm, that was weird."

"What was weird?" Donna asked. She had quietly walked into Josh's office to put the files that he needed for the next day on his desk.

"Nothing." Donna gave him a look telling him that she knew that he was lying. "Didn't you find it weird that Sam said that Cathy had to come? Or what about the fact that we didn't even know that Cathy was working with Sam until today? I don't know, something's off."

"What do you mean?" Donna said with annoyance. "You think that it's weird that Sam would want his assistant to come with him to D.C.? The assistant who probably has not only booked the flight already, but has instructed him on when to pack and what to bring. She probably makes sure that he eats and sleeps because if she doesn't do it than he'll forget to and be a wreck the next morning. I'll make you a bet that if she weren't around he'd fall apart and do you want to know why? Because he can't take care of himself!"

Man, Donna was pissed. Josh couldn't help but notice the similarities in the situations. "Are you talking about Sam and Cathy or about us?"

"I'm talking about both you and I and them. I'm talking about all of you men. Why is it that you can't learn to take care of yourselves? Learn to do the normal things that every other man in America can do like book an airline ticket or get an outside line or tell the time? Why is it that your assistants end up acting more like your mommies than your assistants?"

He knew that he frustrated her sometimes, but he never knew that she was this frustrated. "Donna, I'm sorry. I really am. Maybe I should learn to do things more on my own." He paused seeing that she wasn't buying it. "How about you teach me how to get an outside line so I can call Sam and find out when he's coming." Donna walked over to the phone and showed Josh exactly how get an outside line. Truthfully, he already knew. He just liked having her close. Once she left, he dialed Sam's number in hopes that they could have a long friendly chat like they used to when he was in D.C. "Sam. Hi, it's Josh. So did you book your flight? Yeah? What time? Eight o'clock? In the morning? What it Cathy trying to kill you? So what else is new? You have to go pack? Yeah, Cathy got to you too? Ok, I'll see you soon. Sam wait, who booked the tickets you or Cathy? Cathy? Ok, bye Sam."

Josh laughed to himself. Well, at least he wasn't alone. "Sam is as bad as I am," Josh thought, "but my assistant isn't anywhere near as scary. Not on an everyday basis anyway.

* * *

Please Read and Review. Reviews are greatly appreciated. 


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